User blog:Ceauntay/Weekend Box Office: 'Heroes Forever: The New Resolution' Earns $22 Million in Thursday Previews
= 'Murder on the Orient' and 'Daddy's Home 2' also strong on debuts. = Paramount's Heroes Forever: The New Resolution got off a powerful start as it plumed in a massive $22 million from 3,825 locations. Heroes Forever: The Resolution is directed by Gary Ross, who also directs the first Heroes Forever film, the last four of the Jane Hoop Elementary films and the first The Hunger Games, and stars Cameron Boyce, G. Hannelius, Marcus Scribner, Mika Abdalla, Jake Short, Jeremy Piven, and returning Jane Hoop Elementary stars Blake Brown, Ben Linkin, Amy Tammie and Barbara Blue. The pic is 59% higher than the Thursday debut of Heroes Forever: The New Beginning, which debuted with only $9 million. It is also slightly higher than Jane Hoop Elementary: Turbo of Catland ($21 million) in 2009, but still behind Jane Hoop Elementary: The Final Rush - Part 2 ($41.1 million) in 2011 and Jane Hoop Elementary: The Final Rush - Part 1 ($25 million). Heroes Forever: The New Resolution is now pushing its projection to earn anywhere between $135 million to $145 million in it's opening weekend, which would make it the fourth largest opener of 2017 behind Beauty and the Beast ($174 million), Teen Titans 2 ($164 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($146 million), and second largest opening in the Jane Hoop Elementary series just behind Jane Hoop Elementary: The Final Rush - Part 2 ($165.2 million), and significantly higher than Heroes Forever: The New Resolution ($76.4 million). Heroes Forever: The New Resolution scores a 88% score from Rotten Tomatoes, and scored a A+ CinemaScore. It will open in 4,225 locations. Murder on the Orient Express debuts with $1.6 million at 2,775 screens from Thursday previews, topping the preview numbers for Arrival ($1.45 million) and The Girl on the Train ($1.23 million), fellow adult-skewing fall films that were released wide in November and October 2016, respectively. Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in the mystery movie opposite Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Willam Dafoe, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr. and Daisy Ridley. It marks the fourth big-screen or television adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic tale. It opens this weekend on 3,341 screens and is tracking to debut in the low $20 million range. Paramount’s holiday comedy Daddy's Home 2 unwrapped $1.5 million from Thursday previews at approximately 2,800 locations. The sequel sees the return of Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, with Mel Gibson and John Lithgow joining the budding franchise. This time out, Dusty (Wahlberg) and Brad (Ferrell) join forces to provide their kids the best Christmas, but their newfound union is put to the test when their own fathers show up. Linda Cardellini, John Cena and Alessandra Ambrosio are also among the cast. Daddy’s Home 2 opens on 3,575 screens this weekend and is tracking to open in the low $20 million range. That’s under the unveiling of its original movie, which earned $38.7 million over its Christmas 2015 weekend debut. It also compares well with 2014 pre-Thanksgiving sequels Dumb and Dumber To and Horrible Bosses 2, which respectively earned $1.6 million and $1 million in preview screenings. New offerings at the specialty box office include Fox Searchlight's awards contender Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, starring Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. Category:Blog posts